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Services for IALS LLM and MA Students

IALS Library contact

Your primary contact in the Library is Laura Griffiths, the Academic Services Librarian. Her usual working hours are Monday to Friday 9.00 to 17.00.

If you would like a brief library induction, or if you require advice about using library resources, including databases, please contact Laura. Staff at the enquiry desk can deal with most enquiries, but you can contact Laura for more specialist LLM provision enquiries. Any questions or suggestions about the Library, its services and its collections, are also welcome.

Borrowing from IALS Library

For the duration of the taught element of your course, you will have the standard loan period, which should ensure maximum availability of books. As IALS library is primarily a reference library these periods are somewhat limited. You may borrow:

Three books from the main collection for overnight loans.

Two books/ looseleaf volumes + five serial parts from the short loan collection, for three hours. Books borrowed after 16.45 ( or 14.15 on Saturdays) are due back an hour after the Library opens the next morning (or Monday morning if borrowed on a Saturday).

After the exam period when you are working towards your dissertation this will increase to our maximum load period, usually reserved for University of London teaching academics. You will then be able to borrow:

Four books from the main collection, for four weeks. (Please note that this period may be shortened should another reader reserve the book after you have borrowed it.)

Two books/ looseleaf volumes + five serial parts from the short loan collection, for three hours. Books borrowed after 16.45 ( or 14.15 on Saturdays) are due back an hour after the Library opens the next morning (or Monday morning if borrowed on a Saturday).

Journals and looseleaf volumes - whether short loan or main collection - are confined to the Library.

Renewals

Main collection loans can be renewed by telephone or via the Library Catalogue; this can be done up to three times, as long as no one has reserved the book. Short loans cannot be renewed in this way, but you can bring short loan books back to the Issue Desk to be reissued, unless someone else has booked them.

Access to IALS e-resources

IALS Library subscribes to a large set of electronic resources and most can be accessed remotely.

Databases: To access a database, go to the Electronic Law Library and click on the name of the database. Select "onsite" if using an IALS Library PC, or "remote access" if using your own computer. For remote access, you will need to enter the barcode number from your Library card.

Electronic journals: To access an e-journal , either remotely or in the Library, find it on the Catalogue and click on the link to the online source. (Individual e-journals are not listed on the Electronic Law Library page.)

Full details about remote access to electronic resources are available here.

Other University of London libraries

You can access electronic resources at some other University of London libraries. For example, at SOAS Library, visitors can use the computers on level D to access databases, while at the LSE and UCL there are dedicated computers for visitors. Please refer to individual libraries for further details.

The British Library

The British Library is fifteen minutes' walk from IALS. Information about the collections and details of how to apply for a reader pass are available on the Library's website.

Legal Research

IALS library provide a full training programme for our new students, details of which will be included in your course packs and timetables. Subjects covered include database skills and how to correctly footnote essays. The reference team are also available for individual research sessions on request.

Study Online

Many of your course readings are available on the SAS virtual learning environment (VLE) called Study Online. It is essential that you register for this as soon as possible in order to see the materials, participate in group discussions and be able to submit your assignments.